Matthews denied 70th goals, Leafs lose last regular season game

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If you tuned in to see some scoring history in Tampa Bay, it was Nikita Kucherov, not Auston Matthews, who delivered. 

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Matthews’ wondrous season and another Rocket Richard Trophy ended one shy of 70 goals and not for lack of trying.   

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Twelve shots on goal, 17 attempts, a crossbar, quality chances during four power plays, a couple of delayed penalty 6-on-5 situations and Martin Jones pulled with three minutes to go, failed to make Matthews just the ninth NHLer to reach 70, the first in 31 years. His parents, Brian and Ema, and a number of Leaf fans in the house were pulling for the milestone.  

But on to the bigger picture. A depleted Toronto lineup lost 6-4 to begin playoffs losing four straight,  a final record 46-26-10. It’s the third straight year with more than 100 points, but a rather disconcerting finish nonetheless with Game 1 Saturday night in Boston. 

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Until late in the second period it seemed Kucherov might be denied, too. On an earlier power play, Jones made a huge save on Brayden Point that would’ve been his hundredth helper, while Steve Stamkos hit the post on another feed.  

But the Leafs kept playing with fire when Connor Timmins over-reacted after a crease scrum with Matt Dumba and got an extra two. From there, Kucherov set up Point in the slot and the extended home team celebration began. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Kucherov getting to triple figures became the first duo since Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux in 1988-89. 

For Matthews, it was frustration through the evening, including his 20th post/crossbar, an unofficial league record. He had seven shots in the first period alone with Lightning back-up Matt Tomkins coming up as big as Andrei Vasilevskiy. Matthews, without Max Domi on his line the past couple of games, ended his campaign with 107 points.  

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Before the game, Tampa coach John Cooper said the fan in him wanted both Kucherov and Matthews to get their milestones.  

“If (Matthews does it), I’ll take solace that 69 times before that, no one else could stop him.” 

Kucherov changed the narrative by scoring in the first period to increase his lead in the Art Ross Trophy race on McDavid who played out the schedule in Arizona.  

When Matthews didn’t get 70 the night before in Sunrise, Fla., it became very hard for Sheldon Keefe to sit him out for playoff purposes.  

“The reality is for me, the 70 thing aside, Auston is playing good and feeling good,” the coach told reporters before the game. “If we had more guys to sit or rest he probably wouldn’t even be at the top of the list. In terms of Auston, there was not really much of a discussion there.”  

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Three ailing forwards legitimately needed recovery time for Game 1 of the playoffs Saturday night in Boston, Domi (undisclosed), Bobby McMann (lower body) and Calle Jarnkrok (hand) were in the stands Wednesday, with Keefe listing the tro as “possibilities” to play Game 1. 

Defencemen Morgan Rielly, Jake McCabe and Joel Edmundson didn’t play in Tampa, replaced by Tuesday scratches Mark Giordano, Timmins and TJ Brodie. 

In case you’ve been on Mars the past few weeks, Matthews was attempting to hit 70 for the first time since Teemu Selanne and Alex Mogilny each had 76 in the much more scorer friendly NHL of the 1992-93 season. 

Keefe did make a change in net, activating little-used No. 3 goalie Jones so Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll can be fully ready for Saturday, Samsonov the expected starter. 

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He got little help from a clearly distracted team, the forwards all on a back-to-back and already looking at Saturday in Boston. But TJ Brodie, ending a 111-game slump, Pontus Homberg and John Tavares had late Leaf goals. 

Among the poor attention to detail, Tyler Bertuzzi dropping a puck meant for Matthews that became Nick Paul’s opening goal and a breakaway for Brandon Hagel after William Nylander chose not to play a puck off a Toronto high stick allowing Calvin de Haan to wait for the Leafs to leave open ice for Hagel.  

Also down to a minimal lineup because of injuries, most of which came after they’d clinched a wildcard spot, Cooper had to lean on Kucherov, Point and Stamkos. 

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby  

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